A Most Precious Gift

It might've worked better to put this episode at the beginning of season 4 rather than the end. For one thing, I think in real life Grace actually was born a year earlier than on the series. Also, to make the timeline work out, it could be assumed that Caroline was pregnant during the hiatus, rather than expecting us to believe that there was a nine-month space between "The Stranger" and "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away". Also this would've given Mary a year to get to know her baby sister before she went blind.

I agree with you on that one. It seemed like there was so little time between when Caroline found out she was pregnant to when Grace was actually born, compared to the time between when Laura found out she was pregnant to when Rose was born. still a good episode, though!

Also, Caroline found out she was pregnant with Charles, Jr., and he was born later than episode (The Lord Is My Shepherd, Part I). And how old was Charles, Jr. when he died? Just a few months, I think, but still just the first part of that episode would have covered nearly a year in full time. Meanwhile, Laura, Mary, and Carrie didn't get any older! Hmm. And, in A Child With No Name, Laura went from finding out she was pregnant to recovering from the grief of the child's death all in one episode.

was a sweet esp....

There are a couple of things about this episode that catch my eye. The first is that in this episode, Caroline seems to assume she's going through her change of life, and appears to be totally fine with it. That makes it seem a bit strange that in the Season 7 episode I Do, Again, she is so upset about not being able to have more children. She does, however, keep the same thinking in both episodes. She doesn't want to fail Charles by not giving him a son. In A Most Precious Gift, she says she doesn't want to fail him. In I Do, Again, when Doc Baker tells her she won't be able to have any more children, she tells him she will be nothing to Charles.

What I feel is good about this episode, is that it refers to a past event, something the show didn't do very often. The episodes usually take place, end, and the events are never spoken of again.

Does anyone other than me think Mary looks a bit ridiculous with her hair pulled up in a bun? She doesn't wear it that way afterwards. Now, one could say that's because she went blind and hadn't learned how to put her hair up yet, but even by The Wedding episode she wears it down. She doesn't put it up again until the episode To See the Light. Her face looks too young to carry an older hairstyle at that age.

Mary didn't look good with her hair in a bun. Poor Caroline wanting so badly to give Charles a son and he got to the point where he didn't want a son because she became a bit obsessed with having a boy and it caused tention between them and her getting jealous because Mrs.Simms gave birth to a boy and Caroline felt it wasn't fair. Strange she was okay with the idea of going through the change, but as Bethandmanly pointed out, she was devastated in I Do, Again upon learning she was beginning to go through the change. The timing of Grace's birth didn't add up. Charles Frederick was born in 1875 and Grace in 1977 and on the show, when Caroline went to his grave, she told the Lord it had been 4 years since he took their son and I thought, it should have only been 2 years and the real Mary went blind when she had the fever, not years after she had it.

Spanky wrote:

...and the real Mary went blind when she had the fever, not years after she had it.

I'm fairly sure some time passed between the fever and Mary losing her sight. She had scarlet fever in 1873 when they were with the cousins. Mary became sick again in 1879 with a terrible fever, which is when Ma cut her hair. She ended up having a stroke, and though the fever finally subsided, her eyes began to fail. The doctor felt the nerves in her eyes had been damaged by her stroke. Just like TV Mary, she gradually lost her sight. I always thought this was brave of Michael to work in a permanent disability for Mary. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't do that with Almanzo. I'm not saying they had to make it as bad as it was in real life, but in the span of three episodes, Almanzo went from paralyzed to healthy as a horse.

Thank you for clearing that up, bethandmanly. I was thinking she went blind when she had the fever. I need to read the books again.

Looked up these dates on a timeline that I requested from one of the homesites. I do believe (in real life) Freddy was born on Nov. 1 1875, he dies Aug. 27, 1876 (9months) and Grace was born in May of 1877. Caroline would have gotten pregnant with Grace the same month Freddy died. Grace was born just 9 months later.
I think now it is known that the month that you stop breastfeeding is your most likely time to become pregnant. FYI lol

Umm, you can get pregnant WHILE nursing......

YES.....but the odds go up the week you stop. SO....

Come on Rob....back me up. lol

Gin wrote:

Looked up these dates on a timeline that I requested from one of the homesites. I do believe (in real life) Freddy was born on Nov. 1 1875, he dies Aug. 27, 1876 (9months) and Grace was born in May of 1877. Caroline would have gotten pregnant with Grace the same month Freddy died. Grace was born just 9 months later.
I think now it is known that the month that you stop breastfeeding is your most likely time to become pregnant. FYI lol

You are right. Grace should have been born in season 1. Grace would have been 3 on the show when Mary went blind if they would have had her be born during season 1.

My daughter watched this with me the other night...she said, she finds out she's pregnant and has the baby in one show, while Mrs. Simms is almost ready to deliver..I told her that's the magic of TV and not wanting a 2-parter.

I thought having Caroline want a boy was logical but she really went a bit overboard, I blame it on hormones. Grace was a beautiful baby...those eyes.

And real Grace has great eyes too...I've read that Mary's last sight in this world was beatiful Grace's blue eyes shinning before her...

Vanesa.

The girls who played Grace looked like they would be little spit-fires later on. : ) I wish the show had a special movie episode later with Carrie or Grace getting married or something like that.
On the other hand, it would have been very sad knowing Walnut Grove was gone and seeing everyone at a city home, maybe that's why Michael didn't want to go back, he was on to other things and it just wouldn't have felt right. He also supposedly said he thought those shows were for people to see how much you aged....maybe but they can be sweet too. I admit though, I've never seen any I liked as much as the original show and if there are missing people because they died or just didn't want to do it, it leaves a hole.

I can't believe Caroline got jealous because Mrs.Simms had a baby boy. She didn't think it was fair that Mrs.Simms had a boy telling Charles she had already had a step son and didn't need a boy. She drove Charles nuts in that episode.

Yes, I laughed a little being hormonal myself at the time, but it also showed, how important sons were then. They "usually' helped on the farm, took over business's, etc. and women got married or became school teachers. : )

I liked the spunk the women showed in this show most of the time, the strength, but there were social norms like today that dominated at times.

Watched this one today. I really liked that they actually talked about Charles Frederick, even having Caroline visit his grave (but where is his grave??). And I really liked the intensity of the scene between Caroline and Charles out in the barn when Caroline was sitting by the cradle Charles had made for "Freddy."

jes9 wrote:

Also, Caroline found out she was pregnant with Charles, Jr., and he was born later than episode (The Lord Is My Shepherd, Part I).  And how old was Charles, Jr. when he died?  Just a few months, I think, but still just the first part of that episode would have covered nearly a year in full time.  Meanwhile, Laura, Mary, and Carrie didn't get any older!  Hmm.  And, in A Child With No Name, Laura went from finding out she was pregnant to recovering from the grief of the child's death all in one episode.

Based on the dates on Charles, Jr.'s tombstone, he was almost 10 months old when he died, but in THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, it seemed like he died when he was only 2-3 months old, didn't it? It would have gotten quite old for Laura to have to be jealous of that baby for a whole 10 months, i.e. through at least a whole season of the show, if they followed more of a 'real' timeline.

bethandmanly wrote:

Spanky wrote:

...and the real Mary went blind when she had the fever, not years after she had it.

I'm fairly sure some time passed between the fever and Mary losing her sight. She had scarlet fever in 1873 when they were with the cousins. Mary became sick again in 1879 with a terrible fever, which is when Ma cut her hair. She ended up having a stroke, and though the fever finally subsided, her eyes began to fail. The doctor felt the nerves in her eyes had been damaged by her stroke. Just like TV Mary, she gradually lost her sight. I always thought this was brave of Michael to work in a permanent disability for Mary. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't do that with Almanzo. I'm not saying they had to make it as bad as it was in real life, but in the span of three episodes, Almanzo went from paralyzed to healthy as a horse.

I was kind of disappointed that they gave Adam back his sight. First, I think that would have been extremely unlikely (unless it was supposed to be a miracle) that he would regain his sight by being hit on the head, the same way essentially that he lost his sight. (At least it wasn't amnesia that they 'cured' by another hit to the head!) Also, I thought it was really neat that he and Mary were both blind and yet having a successful career helping others who were blind.

Gin wrote:

Looked up these dates on a timeline that I requested from one of the homesites.  I do believe (in real life)  Freddy  was born on  Nov. 1 1875, he dies Aug. 27, 1876  (9months) and Grace was born in May of 1877.  Caroline would have gotten pregnant with Grace the same month Freddy died.   Grace was born just 9 months later.
    I think now it is known that the month that you stop breastfeeding is your most likely time to become pregnant.  FYI lol

 

Those were the dates on the tombstone for Freddy's birth and death when Caroline went to Freddy's grave in this episode.

Shell wrote:

I can't believe Caroline got jealous because Mrs.Simms had a baby boy. She didn't think it was fair that Mrs.Simms had a boy telling Charles she had already had a step son and didn't need a boy. She drove Charles nuts in that episode.

I love it though when she tells Charles that she knows he wants a son to carry on the Ingalls name. He says something about nobody outside of Walnut Grove knowing the Ingalls name......and yet, thanks to Laura, the Ingalls name is now really carried on and known all over the world! If they had a son, yes, maybe the family name would be passed on to future generations, but I don't think it would ever be known like it is had it not been for one of the girls in the family, namely Laura!

Also, we learn the population of Walnut Grove in this episode.....it was not 200. I think it was something like 182? I guess after little baby Simms and little Grace were born it was 184?